Sivut

19 tammikuuta 2017

Long Live Literature!

I was happy to attend this exciting literature evening on Wednesday evening at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki.Kirja vieköön! - Let the books enchant!was the first literature evening of six in honor of our celebration year Finland 100.

The well-known tv-person Baba Lybeck was the radiant hostess and her guests were persons of great charisma and prestige! The evening was a great success and the house was full.

The first guest was Anu Partanenwhom you may have heard of. She is a Finnish born journalist based in New York City and the author of the book The Nordic Theory of Everything, published by HarperCollins. The book debunks some of the most common myths about Nordic societies and discusses what America might be able to borrow from aspects of Nordic success in the twenty-first century, in order to help restore the American dream. Anu is now a U.S. citizen and writes all sorts of articles for all sorts of magazines and newspapers in both Finnish and English.

Anu says that our Nordic welfare society sets us free. We have public health care, public day care and education free for all. This spares us from logistic problems and saves time: because the state takes care of so many things, we don't have to arrange these ourselves. And not be afraid whether our insurance covers this or that.

As to younger writers there was Petri Tamminen who has just released a book History of Finland. The book includes short stories told by quite ordinary Finnish people throughout the country.

Then there was Jörn Donner, the iconic writer and cinema and theatre man. He has just released a new book that I'm just about to read - in Swedish!

Donner at his 83 years is still sharp as a razor blade. The audience had such fun listening to his jokes.

Finally it was time for two charismatic ladies. First of all there was the beautiful Ms Tellervo Koivisto, 88 years, the spouse of president Mauno Koivisto. Her biography has just been released, written by Anne Mattson.

Ms Koivisto is not only the spouse of the president. She was active in municipal politics, was a member of the Finnish Parliament for four years and wrote for years columns for Suomen Kuvalehti, a magazine of prestige. She is an early feminist and worked hard to get us public day care for children.

At this high age she was so elegant, sharp and had such a good sense of humour. Wow what a lady!

Then there was president Tarja Halonen! It was fascinating to listen to these two extraordinary ladies to discuss about the Finnish society and other contemporary subjects.

They discussed how women's position has changed over the years, motherhood and even clothes.

The audience gave furious standing ovation - and they really deserved it.

There were also three famous Finnish actors reciting samples of these newly released books - what a wonderful experience! It was a great evening and I'm expecting eagerly for the second Let the books enchant! -evening in February. Thank you Baba for this wonderful experience!

She must be such an amazing person (despite being an old person, she looks lovely and she must have lots of things to tell and share with the audience)! A very interesting cultural encounter and stunning experience, for sure! I love to read about this kind of events, even I do not know to much about finnish writers. From '80, in my library, I have a volume of considerations over scandinavian literature, a book named "Scandinavian Spring". There I first read about the "Poems" (from 1916), by Edith Södergran, the known Swedish-speaking Finnish poet. Sometimes I like to make some mentions in my posts and to use lyrics as motto for my essays. Literature is amazing, as well the history and the visual arts! I look forward to read more on your posts and to update my knowledge, finding out new things and learning more about.Best regards and have a lovely week!

Wonderful post. Looks like a good time was had by all! I want to live where you live. I think that people who have state healthcare sometimes don't know how lucky they are. It's sad that in a really rich country people have to struggle to be able to go to hospital or doctors. Enough politics for the day lol.

Thank you all for visiting and your comments 💕I do realize that these persons don't say much to you but to us Finns they do! Especially it was great to see Ms Koivisto for she appears now very seldom in public because of her age. And her spouse, the former Finnish president is suffering of Alzheimers.

What a delightful way to spend an evening, in the company of such talented and well-spoken women. Canada doesn't have quite the same social programs as Finland, but we do have socialized medicine and I am so glad that I never have to think about healthcare costs. Have a great weekend.

I so enjoyed reading about your evening with these important Finnish authors and will check out the book by Anu Partenen which sounds very interesting. Love the spring flower mosaic you've included too.Happy MM!

Thank you Lorrie, Annie & Maggie! This is quite a new concept happening in Finland. In February the guests are talking about the meaning of life, multicultural Finland and heaven knows what else interesting!!!

What a wonderful evening. Wonderful to hear from talented authors and reaffirm the power and talent of women and both men and women of age, both groups I identify with ;). I was especially interested in the book by Anu Partenin (as I am sure you can imagine ) and I will look for it. Your spring flowers are cheerful.

Sounds like a wonderful evening of enlightenment. I agree with Anu. In the States, a college education, daycare, insurance/healthcare ... are all so very expensive. There must be changes made so that everyone benefits, not just the rich who get richer. Best wishes, Tammy

Thank you Sallie & Tammy.I have not yet read Anu's book. But I am so proud of her: for a Finnish born young female journalist it is a huge achievement to have her book published on the US market! This does not happen too often!